Kovu's Transition

[rich198]

i reckon had a tough transition but with kiara helping him i reckon he made it just fine

[PrincessKiara]

I don’t think his transition was very realistic, it was too sped up. But at the same time, I feel like the Adult Kovu we see first, Ziras Soldier, is just a lie. After being touched by the loving light of Kiara, he displays his true self, the Kovu he truly was all along. The "Evil" Kovu is not his true character, it’s just the way Zira has tried to mould him.

But I think he would have some problems later, dealing with all the feelings around his mothers and Nukas death, combined with the love for Kiara and trying to adapt to a completly new lifestyle. It’s a massive change, and a transition I believe would take a certain time. BUT these changes in Kovus life were all for the better, he just needs to "get over" Ziras death and try to put his difficult past behind him and concentrate on the present.

[Kojo]

Well, when you think about it, the ideals of Scar were like religion to Kovu as he was growing up. Zira had that obsessive reverence for Scar which she no doubt passed on to her son through all the training. And Kovu never actually met the lion, so Scar was like this deity to him whose example he was trained to follow and never question, which I doubt he ever did. It's not entirely plausible, logically, that Kovu could just convert to an entirely different set of morals in the span of the film.

On the other hand, LKII was based on Romeo and Juliet. In that story, Romeo and Juliet fall crazy in love in a very short span of time (like a couple of days) and are so taken with each other that they kill themselves at the end of the play.

Given that basis for the storyline, maybe Kovu's transition isn't so far-fetched. People have believed for centuries that love is a plausible reason to commit suicide in the literary world. Maybe it's a good enough reason to ascribe to a few set of ideals in the film world.

And yeah, he'd have issues later on. He kind of ended up being indirectly responsible for the deaths of his brother and mother. That would screw anybody up.

[Pixie]

Also, we don't really know how long Kovu spent at the pridelands between the time he was accepted and when Zira attacked Simba. Obviously, the film couldn't show everyday he was there, so I think they used the two key scenes- "Upendi" and "training" to show how Kiara and the general atmosphere of the pridelands changed him.There might have been several other days, maybe even a month, and Kovu was then able to see a batter way of life, but the directors/producers cut it down to two key scenes.
Also Nuka, Vitani and Zira checked up on him, as we saw, and I don't think they would check up on him everyday, maybe once a week.
I think that if this is true, if Kovu was with Kiara in the pridelands for longer than shown, he wouldv'e been able to make the transition easier, and not so quickly.
Also, I agree with those who feel that kovu was his "true self" when he was with Kiara, not when he was a soldier to Zira.
But, you know, thats my opinion

[Moka]

Well, when you think about it, the ideals of Scar were like religion to Kovu as he was growing up. Zira had that obsessive reverence for Scar which she no doubt passed on to her son through all the training. And Kovu never actually met the lion, so Scar was like this deity to him whose example he was trained to follow and never question, which I doubt he ever did. It's not entirely plausible, logically, that Kovu could just convert to an entirely different set of morals in the span of the film.

On the other hand, LKII was based on Romeo and Juliet. In that story, Romeo and Juliet fall crazy in love in a very short span of time (like a couple of days) and are so taken with each other that they kill themselves at the end of the play.

That's right. Disney was attempting to show that love is so powerful…it can transform even the most vicious, aggressive warrior into a loving, respectable gentleman. Being a Disney film, they left out the phase in the transition that we, in this topic, are looking for: the phase where Kovu loses it multiple times and goes insane trying to adapt this new reality for his love. Obviously this phase would be a bit too dark for Disney. Perhaps they left it out on purpose, perhaps they simply missed it.

Personally I think the movie would be too short even if they included it.

We see the scene where Kovu and Kiara played as cubs and we remember that through all the harsh training and propaganda, the little cub (or this "true self") is still a part of the adult Kovu. But let me remind you all that Kovu was ready to ambush and kill Simba at the waterhole even after meeting his beautiful "true love". I dunno..its hard to believe that his "true self" is this fun-loving guy with a crush on a pretty lioness.

[PrincessKiara]

We see the scene where Kovu and Kiara played as cubs and we remember that through all the harsh training and propaganda, the little cub (or this "true self") is still a part of the adult Kovu. But let me remind you all that Kovu was ready to ambush and kill Simba at the waterhole even after meeting his beautiful "true love". I dunno..its hard to believe that his "true self" is this fun-loving guy with a crush on a pretty lioness.

That’s a very good point, Moka. But that moment (Kovu getting ready to attack Simba) is really the last we see of the "evil" Kovu. After that, the changes in him happen very quickly. Naturally, he wouldn’t turn his back on everything he was trained for in a heartbeat, just because of Kiara. But she causes the changes in him to happen very fast.

So we do see that Kovu was ready to go through with Ziras plan, he was willing and ready to attack and kill Simba.. but after missing that first chance, it seems to me that he was pretty quick to turn away from Ziras plot. (because of Kiara)

[thebigj2]

Realistically it would have taken weeks for such a change to take place, but of course Disney couldn't make a film last that long

THIS!!! but i think later on he had his old family and friends with him, and he knew zeria was with scar and no longer feeling so bitter so i think with surrport he lived a nice happy life.

[Cantwait2bequeen]

Recently I watching the news, and there was a family that taught their children to hate God and that God hated America. The oldest once asked a question against their church, and they banished her, from home too! (It was on 20/20) She managed to get a job and everything, and she is fine. She is trying to get sense into her parents, but they refuse, and she misses her siblings, but she isn't mentally breaking down! She knows what is right, and she loves her parents all the same, even though they said she was going to hell.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Anwsku-9IiY this link shows you the video I am talking about.

When Kovu learned the real story (Simba told him right before the ambush) , hate would have had nothing to back itself up with! He was taught to hate because of Scar and him being thrown from the throne, but when he learned why, hating made it hard.

[vitanithelioness]

i think he was switcing back and forth until he knew being with Zira was wrong

[Arani]

I think that Kovu's transition was very realistic. I think that he remembered when he met Kiara and having fun with Nuka and Vitani as a cub, so when Kiara showed him fun again, he remembered the good times before his training was so tough and decided that it was better than his old life. And Kiara's love really sealed that... in my opinion of course.